This write up is to do with the fridge and charging circuits found on our 2016 Freedom Jetstream 1st Class.

Firstly a recap as to what pins 9 & 10 should do. They are the 12v pins that supply power when the engine is running to the caravan, 9 providing power to charge the leisure battery, and 10 to power the fridge.

The normal setup of the 13 pin socket is that pin 9 is permanently live, while pin 10 is switched on via a relay only when the car is running. Another relay often called the habitation relay, sits in the caravan and is switched on via a spur from pin 10, allowing the leisure battery to be disconnected from the caravan circuit and be connected to pin 9 and charge the battery.

Now we come on to the Freedom. It has the two pins on separate wires coming into the van, but then they are connected together, via two extra wires (power and earth) soldered to pin 10 wire at the 12v socket for the fridge and the caravan loom near the psu/leisure battery/pin 9 wire. This means the fridge can be powered by both pins and work from the leisure battery even when the car is off! If your car battery was flat, then the current wiring means the starter motor would pull it’s power from the leisure battery through wiring not suitable for that draw, only a fuse should prevent that happening. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that this is not a good idea, and it seems strange that it’s been wired up this way.

Pins 9 & 10, with the earths coming into caravan,

So the plan is to separate the two pins by removing the extra wires, next I’ll add the habitation relay so that pin 9 isn’t connected to the leisure battery until the car is on. One issue this has thrown up, is the fridge interior light, according to the installation manual, the Led light requires a permanent 12v connection (the leisure battery), unfortunately it again appears the factory have instead wired the light to the incoming 12v that should power the fridge. The upshot of this is I need to gain access to the top of the fridge to add wires to the connector block for the light, something I need to investigate further…